Players Playbook- What Colleges Look For

Being retired this winter, one of the real joys was to time and freedom to watch different high school teams and players. I had the opportunity to watch games in person and also on Hudl. 

I saw some great teams and great players in downstate Illinois, in the Chicago suburbs, in Iowa, and in Oklahoma. I saw players committed and/or recruited by schools in the Big 12, ACC, SEC, MVC, and Big Ten. 

When you are not stressing about how to guard a great player, it is fun to just enjoy watching the great things- team work, hustle, offensive skills, athleticism and more.  

There are many high school players who have dreams of becoming recruited to play college basketball. What are college coaches looking for?

THE OBVIOUS…

D1 Athleticism- College coaches look at some combination of size, strength, speed, agility, and footwork. It doesn’t mean college coaches only take players with size, but they need players to be able to guard in the post and need guards who can’t be posted up. But the college coaches also want plays with the quickness and agility to go out to guard three point shooters and still contain them. 

Basketball Skills- The top college prospects have some combination of these skills- 

** Shooting range- most were accurate three point shooting (even posts)

** Ability to finish at basket- whether a post or guard on the drive, they finished consistently.

** Handle the ball vs pressure and beat people off the dribble

** See the floor and ability to pass the ball

** Physical enough to rebound and jump well enough to rebound

** Ability and desire to defense

The best shooters seldom have “off nights,” and are not “streaky shooters.” The most neglected skill of the average high school player is their shot. Many HS players get caught up in working on more complex skills or just playing games. The serious player needs to spend a lot of time developing their shot. If you can’t shoot somewhere in the 35-40% range for threes, your opportunities on a college level will be VERY limited. 

THE NOT SO OBVIOUS…

Defense- Most players and most parents think college coaches just look at a player’s scoring average, but college coaches feel a player’s approach to defense tells them a lot about the player’s competitiveness, commitment, and work ethic. All of these characteristics will be important if a college player is going to be successful.

Next Play- College coaches want players who show toughness. Tough players don’t react emotionally to a missed shot, a ref’s bad call, or a teammate’s error. They keep going onto the next play. 

No Possessions Off- The best player I saw this winter was McKenzie Mathurin of Broken Arrow HS in suburban Tulsa. The most impressive thing about Mathurin was that she did not take possessions off. It is no accident that she was selected Oklahoma’s Ms.Basketball. 

For some of the players that I watched this winter, I found myself thinking, “When they turn it on, they can’t be stopped.” Truly great players never have to turn it on because they don’t ever turn it off. 

The truly great players know only one way to play- they play hard all of the time. 

Coachability- A college coach wants people they can coach. They are looking at a player’s body language when they interact with the coach. And they are also watching the player’s parents- do the parents allow the player to be coached or do they try to be their coach. 

My hope is that maybe a young player might read this and realize there is a lot more involved in becoming great than just scoring points.